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Sunday, August 28, 2005

Govt moves to hand over Caroni residential lots

By
Peter Balroop
Government is moving to hand over residential lots to ex-Caroni
(1975) Ltd workers, the Senate was told on Friday.

About 7,000 of them were already b allotted two-acre plots
of land for farming during the past few weeks.

The Senate was also told on Friday that a powerful food import
lobby was intent on throttling all farming efforts in this
country.

Senator Christine Sahadeo, Minister in the Ministry of Finance,
gave the Senate a breakdown of the timelines for distribution
of 7,235 residential lots.

She also said new farmers would get back-up in terms of vegetable
crop selection and marketing help, as well as have access
to a food- processing facility.

Government was bringing in Ministry of Agriculture farming
experts to help the farmers, she added.

Sahadeo, however, was severely criticised by Senate Opposition
leader Wade Mark, who described the PNM's "premeditated"
treatment of Caroni workers as the amputating of their legs,
giving them motorised wheelchairs, and then leaning back to
bask in their gratitude.
Mark called on the Government to account for every plot of
land that had been distributed, even before the Parliament
had completed legislation for divestment of Caroni's 76,000
acres of land, and the use to which it would be put.

He also mocked the Government's agricultural policy, contending
that the PNM was intent on fooling people because the reality
was T&T was being held to ransom by "a very powerful
food import lobby."

In her contribution to the debate on the report by the special
select committee of the Senate that considered the Caroni
(1975) Ltd Vesting Bill, Sahadeo said it was disconcerting
to see the level of criticism that was being heaped on the
Government for the retraining programme for the Caroni ex-workers.

She said she had been with the workers every step of the way,
and they were happy with the new skills they had learnt, but
it seemed certain elements in T&T society, including the
Opposition UNC, were insisting that they (the ex-workers)
remain bogged down in agriculture, when there were whole new
worlds out there for them to conquer.

In terms of the agricultural land distribution, Sahadeo said
the two-acre plots were capable of generating sustainable
farming, and that the distribution of the plots was transparent.
Vowing that new farmers would be given help every step of
the way, Sahadeo declared: "We
want to make Caroni workers' dreams come true."

A surplus in the monthly workers’ pension plan would
soon be distributed, and Cabinet had agreed to rectify a $350-million
deficiency in the daily-paid workers' pension plan.
Sahadeo said the Government was intent on honouring all of
its commitments to the ex-Caroni workers, and she had pledged
personally to ensure that this took place.
The same transparent process would be used for the residential
lots distribution, as in the farming land, she said.

A total of 7,235 lots on 22 locations had been identified,
but infrastructure had to be put in place before they were
distributed.

The Government estimated that 1,100 lots would be distributed
in 2005, 3,200 in 2006, and the remaining 2,400 in 2007.
Sahadeo said farmers would get 30-year leases, with the option
to renew, with the codicil that the land would revert to the
State if productive farming was not carried out."I'm
comfortable and confident that everyone will benefit, and
we will see a reduction in food prices," Sahadeo said.

In his contribution, Mark zeroed in on Gilbert Park as one
area of Caroni lands that were distributed even before Parliament
had completed its deliberations on the vesting of the state
enterprise's 76,000 acres.

He asked Sahadeo to explain how the W Connection club was
able to put up a steel structure there and who gave the organisation
the authority to take over Gilbert Park in California.
Sahadeo said there was an informal arrangement between the
State and the club, without leases or remuneration, in which
the club would occupy and maintain the park so the public
could continue to enjoy the facilities.

Sahadeo said before the shutdown of Caroni, 50-odd land lease
deals had been entered into, and deposits accepted, so the
Government had to honour them.

Since the shutdown, however, no new deals had been made, she
declared.

Mark called for a listing of all of the land transactions
the State had entered into since the UNC demitted office in
December, 2001, with respect to Caroni lands.

Until that was produced, he said, he would say no more on
the subject.
Mark said he heard Sahadeo talking "glibly and loosely"
about setting up an agro-processing plant for the Caroni farmers.

He said that was "like a pipe dream, whistling in the
dark" since in his view the Government had absolutely
no plans in place for T&T’s agricultural future.
Prime Minister Manning might produce some plans in the 2006
Budget presentation, said Mark, but no PNM 2020 Vision document
had so far documented a comprehensive agricultural plan for
the country."The
reality is there is a very powerful food import lobby in this
society," said Mark, who explained that this lobby’s
philosophy was that, in these times of globalisation and trade
liberalisation, it was cheaper to import than to grow food.

Warning that in the last three years, 700 million new consumers
from India and China had come on the world market, Mark said
there was a supply and demand crisis brewing, and that it
was incumbent on all countries to take their food security
seriously.

T&T imported more than $3 billion worth of food and food
products annually, and the bill was rising, Mark declared.
He said to speak of an agro-processing facility being set
up was "almost laughable," since the PNM had done
nothing in the last four years to address food production.
The PNM had "slaughtered" food production when it
took the premeditated decision to close down Caroni.

Mark said the UNC had recognised Caroni needed restructuring,
but not in the way the PNM did it.
This was like blowing off the legs of the workers, providing
them with motorised wheelchairs, then asking them for their
gratitude."That
is what this regime did to Caroni workers and their families."
,
Mark said he believed there was a loophole in the legislation
which would allow Cabinet the ability to increase the proportion
of Caroni's 76,000 acres for commercial and industrial development
to some 42 per cent, when the UNC was adamant that 90 per
cent of the land must be devoted to agriculture.
He said he supported the minority report of the special select
committee submitted by the UNC members, Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan
and Jennifer Jones-Kernahan, which is diametrically opposed
to the majority report of the committee chaired by Senator
Joan Yuille-Williams.
After a heated debate on Friday, however, the report was passed
by the Senate, with little—if any—of the reservations
expressed by the Independent and Opposition benches being
taken into consideration.